iPhone is spreading it's wings

So, O2 will loose it's monopoly status as being the only UK Mobile Phone provider / operator offering the Apple iPhone............. GOOD.
I loath BT & O2 with a passion.
Happy to see both Orange and Vodaphone taking the iPhone into their offerings.
I hope the 3 Network will see the light eventually and follow the lead.

3, 3G and Google

I recently had a problem accessing my GMail and looking at Google Maps via my LG Renoir mobile here in the UK.
Did the usual things like switching off the mobile, have a cup of tea, switch the mobile back on.... no luck.
So I phone the 3 main number and get put through to Tech Support.
I ran the gauntlet of the 'security check' but I never give out any password info as I'm not talking money, I'm talking techy.
Well, after a total of 25 minutes which included repeating most of my comments at least twice, we we getting nowhere.  The 2nd Line Tech Support guy said I needed to swap my SIM with another 3 Network SIM as it was a SIM problem.
I told him it had nothing to do with the SIM but was a Google Platform problem and that I was too busy to listen to straw-grabbing, I hung up.
I then broached the problem via the 'Contact Us' web-form on the 3 website; I got an email confirming it was a SIM problem.
A bit of research and a well placed contact in Google proved the situation was other-than the SIM.
So, problem solved. I'm not saying how as I'm not being paid by 3 the do Tech Support.
Moral: look to the www to solve these problems, the techies will invariably have you dancing a jig.

Glasshoughton

We had a most enjoyable day in Glasshoughton yesterday, or more accurately the Junction 32 Retail Park. http://www.junction32.com/index.html
The only slight disappointment was to find that the Tchibo shop had closed.
I had a bit of a 'senior moment' in that I slightly mis-read the online train timetable, so we had to run a bit to catch the train out of Leeds station; otherwise we'd have had to wait another hour.
Had a pleasant lunch and drinks in 'The Winter Seam' one of the Wetherspoon pubs which is handily situated between the train station and the retail park.

Bye bye 'infolinks'

Decided that the 'infolinks' link was not really what I wanted.
The 'infolink' bubbles that appeared next to various words often seemed either unrelated to the word/context or at best too general.
No great loss; I'll stick with AdSense.

The EU and the Google Trade Mark row

A senior judge at the European Court of Justice has commented in an ongoing row between Google and brand names, such as Louis Vuitton.
The Advocate General has said that, in his legal opinion, Google has not infringed trademark rights by allowing advertisers to buy keywords.
Brand owners argue that the system is infringing trademarks by allowing firms to piggyback on their brands.
The legal opinion will be seen as at least a partial victory for Google.
The long-running legal dispute will not be ruled on officially until early next year, although this non-binding legal opinion is likely to carry a good deal of weight.
Three brand owners, including LVMH, the firm behind the Louis Vuitton brand, are challenging Google in the French courts and the European Court of Justice has been asked to rule on the issue.
The ruling concerns so-called sponsored links, the section which appears to the right of the main search page, is where advertisers who have bought keywords appear. It creates the majority of its income through sales of these links.
This will be an interesting case to follow in the next few months.